The action is starting to heat up on the ice, with the 2022 NHL Playoffs around the corner. There’s no better time to be a hockey fan and be an NHL bettor because there’s huge money to be made with the playoffs. If you’re a huge hockey fan and want to spice up your playoffs experience, then one of the ways to make the games more thrilling is to bet on it.
If you don’t know how to start betting on the NHL, here are some general tips that you need to know about when you want to start betting.
You can treat these tips as general guidelines to help you start your betting journey on the NHL. With all that said, let us begin.
NHL Betting Types Explained
NHL betting is a lot like other forms of sports betting like NBA and NFL betting. One of the ways that you can bet on the NHL is to simply pick which team will win the game. You can also have the option to bet on the NHL spreads if you want.
There’s also a type of bet where you must guess how many goals the favorites will win or the number of goals the underdogs will lose, which is called the puck line. Let’s talk more about these types of bets to delve more into the details.
Money Line
Betting the money line is one of the easiest there is not just on the NHL but in all sports betting. All you have to do is a bet on which team will win in this bet. Of course, there will always be an obvious winner in every matchup, but the odds in the money line are even out so that the bettors won’t blindly pick the favorites most of the time. Let’s have an example:
Dallas Stars +155
Boston Bruins -175
In this example, the favorite to win the game is the Boston Bruins. The odds mean that for every $1 you wish to win, you risk losing $1.75, or in other words, you have to bet $175 to win $100. For the underdog, which is the Dallas Stars, for every $1 you bet, you can win $1.55, or you can win $155 if you bet with $100.
Puck Line
This bet evens the playing field by giving conditions on every team you bet on. For example, let’s have the odds -1.5 for the favorite and +1.5 for the underdog. In this example, to win a bet on the favorite, they need to score at least two more goals than the underdog. On the other hand, to win the underdog bet, they need to lose with less than two goals or win the game outright.
Over/Under
This one is easy as you only have to guess how many goals both of the teams will have at the end of the game. The oddsmaker will publish several goals that they think both teams will have. If you think the number will be more than what the oddsmaker will publish, you should bet on the over and if you think otherwise, bet on the under.
Now that you know the different types of bets you can wager on hockey, here are a few tips you need to know to start betting.
Pick a Good Platform
Sports betting is exciting if you know where to go. That said, picking a trustworthy betting site is essential. Unfortunately, while most of them are reputable and fair, a minority are predatory. Luckily, knowing if a betting site is a scam is fairly easy as there are obvious signs, which we will discuss in another article.
Boost Your Knowledge About the Sport
It’s not enough to just know about the sport; you also need to know its people. One of the key things you need to know about is the players. Keep up on the news like player injuries, coach changes, etc. These factors can make you make or break a bet, so being updated on hockey news is essential.
Start Small
This is an important reminder, especially for beginners. Beginners tend to rush things and bet big on their first bets. This is wrong and risky. You can start small to feel the game a bit and minimize your losses at the outset. You don’t want a huge loss at the start of your betting career.
Develop a Strategy
There are a lot of strategies you can find on the internet that come from reputable sources like sports centers and veterans. As you grow experience in NHL betting, you’ll soon develop strategies yourself. As mentioned just now, it’s not good to rush.
Final Words
These are some guidelines to help you start your betting journey on the NHL. The hockey league is fun, and betting on it makes it thrilling. However, what does not make it exciting is to start betting without any prior knowledge whatsoever about NHL betting. This article will prove to be a useful tool to welcome you to NHL betting.
